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No worries over online visas, says US

One week after implementing the new Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (Esta), American officials have dismissed warnings that tourists forgetting to apply for the new online permit face deportation as "inaccurate".

"British travellers who have not registered before their trip are likely to be detained and sent home," was the advice given by the Foreign Office, and the US Travel Association echoed this. "We are concerned that many of those who must comply with Esta are not aware of it, and may be turned away at airports," said its chief executive, Roger Dow.

However, Dick Custin, at the American embassy in London, said that the chance of someone getting aboard a plane without an Esta was so small, deportation was "all but an impossibility".

"Our business is not to stop travel to the United States, and we will do whatever we can to assist travellers," he said. Custin noted that